Change is afoot among ale drinkers. Increasingly, bottled beers are providing serious competition for their draught peers. And we're not just talking about folk drinking at home: this is among real ale enthusiasts in the pub.

Draught has comfortably ruled the roost for decades and now represents around half of national output, the other half being divided between cans (33%) and bottles (17%). But the figures vary wildly when you bury into craft beer territory. Half of Welsh brewery Otley's output is bottled, and quantities are increasing - they're currently looking for a new bottling plant. Nigh on all of London's Kernel Brewery's products are bottled; statuesque in no frills brown glass with rustic hand-stamped labels.

These breweries are setting new standards for bottle-conditioned, full-flavoured beers. They stand alongside Scotland's Brewdog, with its Punk IPAs, and the more homely Bristol Beer Factory as a new breed of British brewery creating nutty professor-type products to rival those of Europe and the US.

Evin O'Riordan opened Kernel only a year ago and he simply can't brew enough in his single railway arch to meet demand. He says bottles simply suit his beers better - hoppy IPAs and pale ales are best served colder and more carbonated than casks allow. And he has yet to find a pub willing to serve his knockout 11% Imperial Brown Stout on tap.

He agrees that bottles are becoming more popular and attributes it in part to a shift in attitude. People want to drink beer in environments other than pubs: in craft ale bars, at home, in restaurants matched with food. The macho image so popular in marketing campaigns has dramatically lost its appeal. People are rejecting the stuffy old man or braying lad tag attached to cask and keg beers.

Over at Otley's, company director Nick Otley stresses that bottles allow for flexibility – bars and households can stock an unfathomable number of beers from around the world, while this just isn't possible with draught. Consistency is a key factor too. Bottles have a far longer shelf life (avoid clear glass if you don't want a drink oxidised by sunlight) and are far more likely to taste fresh every time. Once a cask of ale is vented it can turn after three days.

Even the traditionalists at CAMRA are becoming convinced of the power of the bottle. Iain Lowe is the campaign's research manager and agrees the case for bottled beer is strong when it comes to imported, high alcohol products served in the correct glassware. He recalls a time when bottled beers were the only way of getting a decent brew. In the post-war austerity of 1950s Britain, cask ales were almost invariably grotty and poorly kept. Pub goers would reluctantly buy a half – to be topped up with a bottle.

CAMRA's Bottled Beer Guide, first published in 1998, is plugging away for the cause, but can the sceptical publican be convinced? Steve Taylor runs London craft beer bar Mason & Taylor, where the split between beer sold on draught versus bottle is 50-50. The bar neighbours the soon-to-open Redchurch Brewery who, inspired by their friends south of the river at Kernel, will be producing a mainly bottled product.

Steve reckons every landlord would agree you can never beat prime real ale pulled fresh from the cask, but the case for bottles is mounting. A bad pint is still remarkably easy to come by to. People want reliability and quality over quantity. They enjoy the theatre of the bottle pour – a shot glass of sediment being optional. For the seller, all the preparatory work is removed - just keep the bottle cool.

An exciting renaissance of the bottle is under way, an offshoot of the current real ale revolution. Will it affect cask devotees at all? Nick Otley says it's "pointless" pitting draught and bottles against each other as the products are so very different, but surely a bit of healthy competition over the beer mat is the name of the game?